18:16:15 Just a few minutes.
18:16:29 And I think that's, I think that's about it just have anyone have any questions, I personally need to just go run and get my water and kind of settle in.
18:16:39 And, yeah, but I'm, I'm basically ready to go. How are you all feeling Do you have any last minute questions, concerns, you can always chat directly out in my right Lauren in the zoom they can always chat just two hosts.
18:16:54 If I'm actively if so I anytime I'm speaking I'm just focused on that, but there. There are times where if you're in the middle of your 10 minute speech I'm going to be listening, but I'm going to also be, you know, kind of trying to pay attention if
18:17:05 I can. So it's one way that you can flag us. You can also is just to do a little chat like in case there's something urgent, or last minute that comes up like I don't know a coyote comes running through, and you have to run outside or whatever it is.
18:17:19 You can just chat post. I don't know if you've ever seen that in the chat function but if you click on chat.
18:17:26 At the top it defaults to everyone, but it's got a little down arrow and if you click that.
18:17:32 It should be able to say host, and if you, you can just chat to host. If there's anything urgent that comes up, or or you have a concern or, and you just need to reach, you know, me or Laura and hopefully one of us, Lauren is going to be paying a tip
18:17:45 I think closer attention to the chats. So one of us will be able to see that.
18:17:49 And check in, and yeah i think that's about it. Is everyone feeling good. Should we be muted when we're not speaking like should we mute and unmute, everyone.
18:17:59 Thank you. Thank you for asking that yes yeah and during the QA, you know, try to do it during the q amp a depends on you know how that's bopping along but ideally we would all be muted.
18:18:09 And just one person talking at a time, I'll be good to see you. Thank you. I'll be is also one of the organizers, and he's going to be performing, providing tech support and backup and scanning the chats for all of the good juicy questions.
18:18:25 And actually, Lauren, I just want to make sure that is the questions will be at the bottom of the event for plan right yes there we go I see it okay I just hadn't scroll down that far.
18:18:37 So, if I was feeling.
18:18:40 So just a couple things was that I was 9% listening but you did mention that we're going to show a video first as part of the introduction to right. Yes, yes right yeah the feature.
18:18:52 Yep.
18:18:53 And then, if you can stay on for an extra half hour Melissa until I will just everyone
18:19:03 just Yes, hopefully, hopefully it all works out. I really counted on tonight being winter, I just I didn't think Mark, you know i My birthday is actually tomorrow.
18:19:12 And I used to be a spring baby growing up in New York City and just long ago have accepted that I'm a winter baby in Vermont and winter winter is just so much safer here for our animals in a panic.
18:19:24 At least that's how it feels for me. And our yeast plus alpaca free range option is working really well we haven't lost any birds to predation the weasels been scared but this is when they get really bold so yeah I couldn't get everyone I've for anyone
18:19:38 who was on earlier I couldn't get my animals away, I couldn't convince them This wasn't me it's just so beautiful out there, they all rebelled and the birds are running wild.
18:19:46 And so I'm just feeling a little bit nervous about being on until eight but but that's okay, I will do it just everyone think, you know, nasty thoughts to keep the weasel eBay and then we should be fine.
18:19:57 And there are decent alpaca who might start trouble with them. No no are you are all your animal babies tucked in.
18:20:04 No, no, no, we still have to close our ducks and chickens up at some point.
18:20:12 And they don't have electric fancy there. They're not safe so yeah it so it yeah so so things like that if you need well and also. After you guys talk, you know, there should be about 20 minutes before anything happens next event that might actually,
18:20:29 you know, if one of you want to sneak out to do chores, you should be able to do that.
18:20:34 While they and then Bill, Bill go.
18:20:37 They had the How are your farm babies doing good, actually.
18:20:44 We just like combined, our chickens and our winter set up, you did that, and I was, I thought for sure, we would lose chickens because this should I mean it's just like open.
18:20:57 Like shelter, running, but even fine I don't know if everyone's just scared of the ball and.
18:21:24 Yeah.
18:21:24 What's going on but we do that for a couple of years with the alpaca, and we had great success and then the weasel discovered as and the alpaca didn't like care enough about a tiny weasel like we have a cat farm cats running around it just didn't.
18:21:22 And then that that wiped us all out and so now they're all in a coop so if they go in there the weasel can just join them and the geese don't put themselves to bed, they're like, no way.
18:21:30 So yeah, that's but but it's nice when that works and when and I haven't done it with cattle maybe that would, I don't know. So I really hate to say it because I know as soon as I do say it, it's going to happen, but we just don't see, I don't want to
18:21:45 say, we have not had very much predation issue we seem to just, just not in a predator corridor, we just haven't dealt with that yet. I know it's coming.
18:22:01 I know it was nice just having the fox we figured it out the coyotes already an issue at all, they're scared of alpaca they come and see if you know what's going on but they never do anything.
18:22:10 I'm just going to quickly make sure I just go get a drink of water and get settled.
18:22:18 And, yeah, is that okay I'm just gonna I'm gonna pop out for a moment. I'm going to.
18:22:24 And so, Hi everyone, I know you've only seen me very scattered and unprepared on zoom, I'm usually very prepared, I apologize.
18:22:33 Um, I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming tonight. If you have any issues with your technology tonight and you're at a point where it's your screen sharing is not working and you're not using your patients with it, just say, Lauren Can you
18:22:47 share my slides, and I will gladly share them on my end. And you'll just say next slide. So don't worry about that. That's not going well thank you all for sending them to me.
18:23:00 Lauren Did you get my replacement.
18:23:03 I did. Sorry about that. No problem at all.
18:23:08 I hadn't even seen the first round yet so this is.
18:23:13 Um, yeah before slides.
18:23:17 Should be seven in the real one.
18:23:23 It's called North Country. Got it, girl slides or something like that.
18:23:31 All right.
18:23:33 So I'll have that
18:23:37 up and going.
18:23:43 So my, my last name is pronounced Rocher rhymes with kosher, just in case, because you're going to be handing it over to me.
18:23:51 And I know it's it's a name that tricks, a lot of people so deceptive
18:23:59 does.
18:24:01 Melissa know about that pronunciation.
18:24:03 I do now.
18:24:09 Thank you, Bill. Bill.
18:24:13 Thank you. That's amazing.
18:24:16 And I also want to say no reason to be nervous.
18:24:21 We've had a lot of these rooms, they all turn out great. Don't be afraid to say something wrong, or to say say the same thing to all times. That always happens, and everyone is loving the show the episodes or the webinar so just share what you want to
18:24:37 share, and it's going to be great.
18:24:41 Thanks for being a part of this, this crazy wild ride that we're all on and go ahead.
18:24:46 Yeah, seriously, thanks for all your work, too.
18:24:52 Sure thing.
18:25:05 Any, so just everyone knows.
18:25:10 Y'all keep your videos on Avi and I will turn our videos off while we are here and at the ready, if you message, all your myself more and less than or Lauren Weston do.
18:25:22 I've got my three screens up, and I'll see your message.
18:25:27 So please don't.
18:25:29 Don't feel or, or email if something goes horribly wrong.
18:25:35 I'll be checking my email as well.
18:25:37 You never know.
18:25:59 Any, any last questions,
18:26:04 any more trial runs on zoom.
18:26:09 Well I should wait just do it because I haven't and.
18:26:14 That sounds great.
18:26:17 Okay.
18:26:20 You're shy share my sound too.
18:26:25 I have a couple videos it's probably better.
18:26:28 Great. If you're have videos to are the videos in the PowerPoint. Yeah.
18:26:34 I mean they're just short little clips so you just like sheet volume, but it'll sound better if I share my sound is that right yeah so when you, when you just go to share screen there should be two buttons on the bottom to share your sound and optimize
18:26:47 for video, you should click both of those.
18:26:50 Okay.
18:27:06 So we can see it there's some black bars in the way so if you don't move your mouse for a second I want to see if they go away, sometimes they do.
18:27:16 It's like where it's where all of your faces or I can just minimize it better.
18:27:20 that is better yep that's much better.
18:27:23 Tiny little.
18:27:26 Get rid of them.
18:27:28 Just like stick it in the corner.
18:27:30 Because I would and then there's also the seminar the top in the middle.
18:27:39 And that might be something that worked.
18:27:42 Okay.
18:27:46 Will you try to play one of the videos.
18:28:35 Sounds good.
18:28:35 Sounds good.
18:28:31 keeps coming back.
18:28:36 Thank you.
18:28:54 Really fun hour and a half, said to learn from you all I was actually on four different farms today in Franklin County Vermont.
18:29:02 One beef and pigs and chickens and turkeys, and then one dairy, or two dairy. And then when I guess who's actually isn't any animals left so I'm just, I'm in the mood for some animal talk
18:29:17 and Lauren are you, there's a couple more places where I've added links and I say Lauren's gonna post the link in the chat box are you comfortable in all those places Yeah, if I highlight.
18:29:25 Okay. Okay, good.
18:29:30 I didn't see that few of those in there that realization mentioned that.
18:29:34 Yeah, I'll be paying, I'll be watching you and I'll click through us, normal. I am going to start sharing my screen.
18:29:42 So, it'll be ready when people come in.
18:29:57 That looks good.
18:30:02 I want to stop my video and I'm gonna mute myself.
18:30:05 We're going to start letting folks in army, and good luck everybody I think is going to be super fun.
18:30:36 Welcome everyone, we're going to give people a few more minutes to jump in here, or a couple of probably just a minute or two really begins we have a lot of wonderful information to share with you tonight.
18:30:48 In the meantime, feel free to enjoy that first slide there and we've got an icebreaker question for everybody.
18:30:55 So if you feel inspired. You can share your name, where you're participating from, and if you've ever raised farm animals yourself and if so, what kind.
18:31:07 And if not, what farm animals are you most interested in raising, so we can have a little conversation going while we just wait another minute or two.
18:32:04 Okay, welcome to the fourth of six events for the soil health and community resilience stories for stories from the north series. This 2021 series is our third annual soil series.
18:32:17 Tonight's event is called healing the land with farm animals. I am Alyssa Rita Cole tonight's facilitator and one of the organizers of this series. I'd like to first thank the other members of the organizing team, including Grace, Grace uni, Becky carpets,
18:32:31 Lauren Weston Avi Bauer, and cat Buxton.
18:32:34 I would also like to thank all of you who are here this evening or watching the recording in the future. I want to thank those of you who are filling out our surveys, they are changing the way we are designing the event so thank you.
18:32:46 We are also posting all of the resources that you share at the bottom of the series web page, please make sure to check out all of the crowd sourced resources there.
18:32:55 I would also like to thank all of our incredible partners who have made this series possible. The 50 plus organizations and businesses that you see on the bottom and side of your screen, have helped us fundraise for our speakers, spread the word about
18:33:08 these events and shared countless resources with us that we are excited to share with you.
18:33:12 We'd like to give a special thank you to the Cooperative Education Fund. The Vermont healthy soils coalition, and the Littleton food Co Op.
18:33:20 To learn more about all of the partners and to take a look at all of the resources gathered from partners and through the pre event planning survey, please visit our website for the series, Lauren is adding that link to the chat now.
18:33:33 We would like you to all know that we are recording tonight's event.
18:33:37 Additionally, we are keeping you muted, and we ask that you keep your cameras off. Our team will be doing our best to keep disruptions to a minimum. We have a lot of wonderful content that are speakers want to share today.
18:33:48 So there's question and answer may be short. If you don't get a chance to ask a question, be sure to follow up on the Vermont healthy soils coalition listserv, depending on your version of zoom, you should also have a button at the bottom of your screen
18:34:01 called Live transcript. If you click the arrow next to those words, you should be able to turn off or on an auto generated live feed of subtitles for tonight's discussions.
18:34:12 We apologize in advance if the transcription service captures any of the words incorrectly. The entire transcript will be saved and posted with the recording if people want to come back to it later.
18:34:21 And don't have access to it.
18:34:23 And if you have any questions for us at any time, please submit them through the zoom chat box.
18:34:31 We would like to open this evening with a land acknowledgement.
18:34:35 This Atlanta acknowledgement for what is referred to by some as the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and the North Country of New Hampshire has been shared with us and others by Chief Don Stephens of the new league and band of acoustic of Anakin nation.
18:34:49 Many of us are on the land which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange among indigenous peoples for thousands of years and is the home of the Western Avenue hockey people.
18:34:59 The team organizing this event today honors recognizes and respects these peoples, especially the avid hockey, as the traditional stewards of the land and waters on which we gather today.
18:35:10 And that spirit. Today we will begin by acknowledging that we are guessing this land, and we need to respect and help protect the lands within our use.
18:35:19 Additionally, we would like to take a few moments of silence to honor and respect the elders of the past and the present, who were and are stewards of this land.
18:35:42 Thank you.
18:35:47 And making this series, we wanted to create a community for all together safely. We created a list of community values and guidelines that are being shown on your screen now in this space, we agree to respect and recognize all voices lived experiences
18:36:02 perspectives and worldviews we seek to create safe space for learning and sharing. And we ask that we all use inclusive and respectful language violations of these values and guidelines will lead to removal from the event this evening by our team.
18:36:16 Thank you for understanding with those in mind, let's get to know each other as you feel comfortable please introduce yourself in the chat box with your name, where you're participating from tonight and a response to the question have you raised farm
18:36:28 animals, if so, what kind, and if not, what would you most like to raise.
18:36:33 We'd also like to announce the winners of our last events raffle those winners are Mary Jane Morin Charlie Castello, and David go blocky, so congratulations.
18:36:46 And now let's get to tonight's raffle and survey. We do have a post event survey that shouldn't take more than three minutes to complete and will be sent out with the recording of tonight's event via event bright.
18:36:57 If you fill out the survey within one week of tonight's event, you will be entered into our raffle for prizes, the prizes tonight are a $20 $25 gift card to the Littleton food Co Op mighty mini micro coloring books from the nr CS.
18:37:14 The soul of soil by Joseph Smith. Smiley and Grace, Grace uni organic revolutionary by Grace, Grace uni compost and worm castings from Blackthorn factor farm.
18:37:25 And in addition, Chelsea green publishing has generously offered all participants of this series of 35% off discount code off of their books and more on their website Chelsea green.
18:37:47 The code is p web 35, and it is good for all participants here tonight and watching the recording this spring. Thank you, Chelsea green. If you are able and interested, please consider donating to the fundraising efforts for this series we are still working towards our goal and
18:37:54 appreciate any and all donations, which are tax deductible thanks to our fiscal sponsor royal very rural Vermont.
18:38:00 Lauren is putting the link to the, to the donation page in the chat box now in case you feel inspired.
18:38:07 Just before we get started hearing from our speakers. I wanted to talk about one of our primary goals. One of our goals with this series is to introduce community members to the wonderful farms and projects in their area to build the social mycelium.
18:38:22 We do that through selecting speakers from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the North Country of New Hampshire, but also through featuring a new hampshire or Vermont agricultural projects.
18:38:32 Tonight's feature is about Fresh Start farms in New Hampshire, and in a few moments we will show you a short video about it.
18:38:38 Fresh Start farms New Hampshire is a collective brand for immigrant and refugee farmers participating in the new American sustainable agricultural program, a program of the organization for refugee and immigrant success.
18:38:50 Lauren is posting the link for fresh start farms and the organization for refugee and immigrant success in the chat box now. I wanted to just mention that there are similar projects found in Vermont, through the new farms for new Americans program, which
18:39:04 is the community based gardening agricultural program for refugees and immigrants and Pine Island community farm and Colchester. These are separate programs from the New Hampshire one, but are very similar in spirit.
18:39:17 Pine Island community farm is a place where new Americans people who originally came to Vermont as refugees can be on the land again and grow or buy food that is hard to get in Vermont.
18:39:40 It's a space where people can experience over month it feels more like home. Well Colchester can feel like a world away when you're living in the nek a local farmer from Waterford Vermont, Roberta of crooked mile cheese sold her male goats and Pine Island
18:39:42 community farm. So even though we can feel far away. I just wanted to know that you to know that there are these other initiatives happening that we can interact with our interface with in a variety of ways.
18:39:58 And we wanted to make you avail make you aware of those with that. Okay, and now we're going to switch to the video of fresh start farms,
18:40:10 Bahamas I'm a bit like was somebody. My name is Fatima Mohammed, and I'm from Somalia, and I live in Manchester.
18:40:31 When I came here to the United States, I didn't even stay here for two years. When I started looking for a place to farm. And I wish I was a farmer that's the only thing I have done nothing else I don't know anything else. Our mission is to integrate new arrivals into the community, but
18:40:36 arrivals into the community, but also help them become self sufficient so we can get them off dependence on social services that community access of local ground food, the same time as we helping farmers generate income, the interaction between the community
18:40:51 and farmers is getting better. So it is it's just a nice thing to see happen in the community. Thank you.
18:40:56 Thank you so much.
18:41:00 Yes, we have a deep deep connection to the land. When we first started, it was, there was a challenge challenges that we we overcame a lot of it. And we do have, we have some connection to our customers.
18:41:12 Now we get to know each other.
18:41:18 Right now we don't own the phone, and the owner can say anytime that he doesn't want us here anymore. And we're very grateful that he led us from all this time.
18:41:30 My dream is to grow more and sell more, so I can be like more productive when it comes to the farmers.
18:41:33 The farmers right now in a stage where they want to develop a business model from the move from being an incubator farmers to a larger scale business model farming.
18:41:44 And the only way they can be successful in that part is is they have assurance of access to a land that has no barriers stuck to whether or not they will be having the land forever or not.
18:41:57 We Russell foundation partnered with or us.
18:42:01 We approached the landowners, knowing that already had been here for years but never had security and the land owners weren't sure what they're going to do.
18:42:09 We, we devoted time and money to secure a contract to purchase the land and the landowners, very generous in their vision and allowing this partnership to begin with, allowing us on the land, and then being willing to sell the land for a fraction of the
18:42:26 This is an opportunity for us to work together and make something happen for the better of the farmer, but also for the community to continue have access to local ground food.
18:42:45 What I will ask us to help reduce food, who can help us in getting those funds to help us so we have this farm, because right now there's uncertainty on how long we can have this farm Sasikala be a wonderful thing if we can own, this and this, because
18:43:03 we do not want to stop farming, until we die.
18:43:08 You know, you have to dream for the future.
18:43:11 So, I want to have a career in this for me.
18:43:20 I bring in my case here and my brother.
18:43:35 So if, when we age our and we can no longer farm. The farm, send our kids may be able to farm I am so proud to work hard for my family, and be very proud to leave a legacy, doing the farm business.
18:44:05 Melissa you're muted.
18:44:09 Lauren Thank you so much. I didn't want to interrupt the video while it was playing with that I am excited to introduce our speakers this evening, we will be hearing stories from Jeffrey Ellis and Rebecca Byler who have been farming at peace of our farm
18:44:22 in Albany Vermont since 2010 day after, Diana Jones from the Jones farm, a small diversified Hill Farm and st Johnsbury Vermont and Bill foster who is there who has 30 years of farming experience and works as a conservation planner, working for the new
18:44:38 Hampshire association of conservation districts, and we'll begin tonight with Jeffrey and Rebecca.
18:45:03 Are you are you frozen we can see chickens.
18:45:09 Yeah, it. I don't know what happened it.
18:45:24 When I shared it, it went right to that
18:45:18 one, one more moment, Jeffrey Rebecca have a lot of wonderful photos from their farm.
18:45:24 So hopefully, yeah it's weird it won't let us.
18:45:30 It's not letting us
18:45:33 navigate the photos.
18:45:36 Now, totally like disappeared.
18:45:41 I can host for you, if you'd like.
18:45:46 Yeah.
18:46:00 I'm
18:45:53 see.
18:46:00 Oh, here we go. Okay, we got it. I, it's, it's working now, I don't know how but it's working.
18:45:59 All right. Okay.
18:46:02 Hi, I'm Rebecca and gently and we're piece of her farm in Albany.
18:46:07 And we've been here for this will be our 11th season.
18:46:11 We have a pretty small scale, about an acre and a half and production.
18:46:21 Grow a variety of crops from mostly vegetables and fruits, blueberries, raspberries currents.
18:46:31 Fun cat. We make some, Some hemp and make some herbal products, and she talking mushrooms on logs.
18:46:39 And the whole farm is no till.
18:46:42 And we're not certified organic, but we do practice organically and the animals that we, we raised all been like, pretty small scale and mostly for our own use or sport, small scale, commercial homestead level, but be in the various gifts of the animals
18:47:15 into our farm systems in ways that we try to be preparing garden space or building soil, and try to utilize the animals to the fullest potential.
18:47:31 Things like chicken scratch or their poop in the right place can contribute a lot.
18:47:40 And, but we also want to make sure they have good quality of life and are spending a lot of time on fresh, fresh pound.
18:47:48 So, for our fun looks like the previous picture it looked more like this. And it was kind of an overgrown hay fields overgrown Christmas tree farm. We had to do a lot of tree clearing.
18:48:03 and we left stumps in the ground. We don't have a tractor so we just kind of wanted things to to rot naturally and we had heard that pigs can totally root out stumps and destroy the grass and make it plentiful but that's really not accurate.
18:48:22 They can definitely do a lot to to loosen things but, and they are very good at turning this soil, but it's not going to be pristine garden ground after that.
18:48:33 So, eventually, after we had the pigs and areas that became gardens, we moved him down to this slower field where we rotate them there in the foreground and chickens are in the background.
18:48:46 And we got a different housing structure that that little shelter there can be moved easily with two people.
18:48:57 A little bit more heavy duty than original tarp covered structure, which is not recommended for cakes.
18:49:04 They like they'll they'll eat the tarp. And any dangling bits.
18:49:13 So, that field has been, as we've transitioned from overgrown trees there's obviously lots of saplings and blackberries and all kinds of things that are in constant meeting maintenance.
18:49:26 So the pigs have been pretty great rotating through all that they like to turn everything under and we've eventually moved to just using to single lines of electric cats.
18:49:38 For two pigs we found we try to keep them in one paddock for about a week and then move on, otherwise they can really start to damage the soil and make calls.
18:50:00 We've been a little bit of experimenting with food crops for the pigs. This is a mango beat you can pick the tops and then feed them the roots to, we've, we've been marketed the tops, as bunch, like a bunch of chart is quite good, so it's it's a nice
18:50:23 weeds are also very thing apples.
18:50:31 So, laying hands are the next group of animals that we've raised. And
18:50:40 the first year when we were starting to build gardens at our space.
18:50:44 We had our laying hens and chicken tractors john here.
18:50:51 Most people move chicken tractors like once a day to fresh ground we were doing something called a deep mulch system where you would keep each tractor in place for about two weeks and every day.
18:51:02 Throw high end or, you know, a grass or other things, materials,
18:51:09 and eventually you get this thick mat of layers of chicken poop and and compostable materials, and we throughout the whole summer move them about hundred feet and created these mats behind them.
18:51:25 We were hoping that they would kill the grass and we could plant them to them later but it didn't kill the grass. So we ended up kind of lifting the whole mat up putting cardboard underneath, and then eventually, turning them into gardens.
18:51:44 This is the same spot. A few years later so it adds a lot of fertility even though it didn't kill all the grass.
18:51:52 In the wintertime, for quite a few years we kept the laying hands on the ducks in our hoop house.
18:51:58 And this the first year we put this up.
18:52:01 It was total sod in there, and then throughout the winter we were adding a lot of mulch materials and chickens were scratching and pooping.
18:52:16 We had the roost that we could move around to different locations so it's spread out the poop. And by spreading it actually did a really good job and narrative smothering side.
18:52:22 And we were able to to plant in there and have pretty good crop. And that was a successful winter housing for maybe five years and then we had a prediction problem with a with a raccoon one warm February, so we don't do that anymore.
18:52:37 Yeah we, it was challenging in the wintertime his challenge is to electrify in the around the greenhouse with all the snow and so we we had to move on.
18:52:50 We after the chicken tractors, were actually they got crushed underneath the roof.
18:52:56 So we moved on to a different type of mobile structure.
18:52:59 This is a chicken house that we used to move it with human power but over like log rollers. And it was really heavy. We did it for a couple of years I think the idea is that they sleep in there at night to be safe and then they have a fenced area to graze
18:53:19 during the day.
18:53:25 We move that we just kept it stationary and brought things to the chickens instead of them going to fresh grass. And so here we're trying to utilize their scratch ability to make compost in the background there's, you know previously that was in pallets,
18:53:43 and we would would fork it, and they would keep scratching and forget again. So those one way to utilize their talents to make some compost and the place where their permanent place are living now we make more like wind rows of compost that the chickens
18:53:58 can access this is their winter bedding and come free.
18:54:05 That was trying to lay out the window.
18:54:08 And we tend to forget occasionally and they'll scratch it down won't forget back up and that's one way to utilize the talents.
18:54:16 We raise a couple of one or two batches of meat birds usually a season.
18:54:22 That's what you're looking at there and the blue tarp structure, and we keep them inside the structure at night and then they have free range in the fenced area, electric fence.
18:54:36 During the day, and we raised freedom Rangers.
18:54:42 grow little
18:54:44 10 to 12 weeks to mature, but they're pretty good at eating, eating all the grass and forks and everything that's out there.
18:54:55 And we bring them stuff as well. various weeds and crops in the garden, and we moved that whole fence with the house in it and the chickens, without opening it up but kind of like collapse apart and move it forward.
18:55:10 So they stay inside of it as we move it to fresh ground about once a week.
18:55:16 And that structure. If you said that we can move that one person can move that structure. So it's much lighter yeah it's PVC and chicken wire and no bottom.
18:55:29 They've added a lot of fertility.
18:55:31 So this was the only true grazer we've had so far, this is lucky the ox, who we got him when he was already five and quite large, and he had some training.
18:55:43 We didn't have that much training. And so there was challenges and trying to, we were hoping to get him to move logs and think materials around the farm.
18:55:57 And he kind of digress in his respect for us, and felt like it became dangerous eventually. So we did end up eating lucky.
18:56:09 And we recommend, if someone wants to work with a draft animal definitely having a good mentor nearby, or starting with a young animal and like growing with them as they, as they get bigger.
18:56:22 But it was great having being able to move, someone like that around for grazing between all kinds of areas on.
18:56:30 Yeah, and that in static maneuver files, like in the wintertime, it was great to have that amount of manure, to make compost with, whereas most of the other animals were moving around.
18:56:44 So ducks is the last group of animals that we have.
18:56:48 We really like utilizing them for their, they love to eat slugs and snails and insects and dig around with their bills.
18:56:58 But we don't let them just free range everywhere because we're selling vegetables and
18:57:10 can't be. They have kind of projectile loose manure so you have to be careful, having been too close to crops. So our strategy has been to move them in fenced areas around gardens, and then also once crops have finished like in this picture the asparagus
18:57:28 is past its clickable state will put them in there to clean up for, you know, future, and our original structure shown there was kind of like a house with like a wheelbarrow that you can move with them in it.
18:57:46 But obviously, there was a limit to how many birds we had eventually moved to a stationary housing unit cited near Arusha toffee log yard so that they could keep down the slug population.
18:58:00 And the way started moving them walking them daily outside of their house, their nighttime housing into different paddocks, so we'd have more flexibility of how far they could travel, like here they're cleaning up the garden in the fall.
18:58:17 Lauren, could you play that video.
18:58:21 It's just a little clip of how the ducks, they've been changed now they'll move on their own from, from the paddock Rebecca I think they put for Lauren to play you might have to stop sharing your screen.
18:58:36 There we go. Perfect.
18:59:27 Farm Animal Willow, she's she contributes in her own way.
18:59:31 He or she dug a big hole in the cabbage patch and playing in it but
18:59:38 she, I think, you know, having dogs and cats rounder really beneficial for her farm and it may help with like we don't have a ton of private river issues.
18:59:49 For the most part, so I could be part of that, like one year we didn't raise pigs in the summer. And that was the year we had with Chuck issues, you know, and then this year we have pigs again in the summer and wasn't that much of an issue so we said
19:00:05 we're going to pass the screen over today in for Jones now.
19:00:15 Thank you, Rebecca and Jeffrey,
19:00:21 And they answered you want to unmute yourself.
19:00:25 Yes, I do.
19:00:51 Okay, let's try this again.
19:01:11 Okay, so I'm Diana Jones, and my husband, Mitchell and I own and run a little diversified farm and st Johnsbury.
19:01:24 But I would say that our focus is our flock of mostly Icelandic sheep.
19:01:35 And we've been here for just over three years.
19:01:41 We started really as a homestead.
19:01:45 We just wanted to raise our own food, and then she just started multiplying, as they do. And we started selling our lamb and our customers loved it and wanted more and so the flock grew, and there was more demand for lamb.
19:02:11 And so we've done, chickens and ducks and pigs and some cattle but we just keep coming back to our flock of sheep.
19:02:25 So this is what the farm looked like when we moved in.
19:02:34 We sort of inherited a soil health experiment unknowingly when we bought the farm.
19:02:44 We bought it in the winter, and when the snow melted, we noticed that something was wrong with this area in the back.
19:02:58 There was like a step down in the pasture and it's probably about a two acre area. And what had happened, is there had been a bridge project that had been staged there, and they ended up just scraping all of the top soil off and trucking it away.
19:03:19 So what was left was this awful there. Sandy hard packed ground, and really all that was going on, it was rad lead.
19:03:35 Um, so that first summer, we couldn't even greys are small flock of sheep out there. So what we did do is we got a bunch of laying hands. Got them in tractors and just started moving the tractors over that area.
19:03:57 And we pull.
19:03:58 we still do, every summer.
19:04:01 These are what our chicken tractors look like, and we pull them forward. One length, every morning and every afternoon and you can see the first tractor came through here and left this really nice dark green nitrogen rich soil and you can just, you can
19:04:23 how the grass changes color in response to that. So, they probably these tractors, probably cover this field twice the summer, three times in the summer.
19:04:50 And additionally we use the deep pack bedding method and our barn in the winter with our sheep. So this field also gets all of that bedding, too. And so you saw it looked like.
19:04:55 We first bought it. This is, I believe this is the second summer.
19:05:00 This is, I believe this is the second summer. And then we were able to add sheep as grass started growing and other species started growing in that field.
19:05:10 And then this is what it looks like now this was last summer so that's just three summers of circling those chicken tractors, getting sheep on the pasture and then also using the bedding from the barn.
19:05:27 And it's really like we couldn't have imagined that this pasture would have made such a quick comeback.
19:05:37 Just with the chicken tractors and with the bedding, but it has been amazing.
19:05:42 Those of you who are familiar with this netting fence, these polls have an author three or four inch spikes on the bottom that you just you can just push into the soil.
19:05:55 The first two summers we would bring a huge nail and a hammer out there and nail, you know drive the nail into the ground where we wanted to stick each post, because the ground was that hard.
19:06:12 I mean there was no top soil, it was, it was bad, but we're working on it and it's coming along nicely.
19:06:21 So this is just a quick video of what it looks like, every morning and every afternoon we just pull them forward, one link.
19:06:33 And that is nice because it gives the hands, a chance to eat the grass, even the insects that are there but it doesn't give them enough time to start making holes.
19:06:48 This is like really valuable pasture space for us and we really don't want them tearing it up. So moving them twice a day like this makes it so they really just don't have time to be digging.
19:07:03 So another thing that we've done, as we've grown our flock, is that we have graced off of the farm. So, the farm has 100 acres with it, but most of that is forested, and we talked about clearing forest and turning it into pasture, but ultimately decided
19:07:30 that it was best for the climate to leave the trees, and let them sequester carbon. And so what we did was we turned to local land owners who were mowing acreage either us lawn or brush hogging it just to keep it as open field, but weren't using it.
19:07:54 Otherwise, and we're able to come up with simple contracts to graze our sheep and these places that would have otherwise been mon.
19:08:05 And so, the first summer we graze in Danville and then this picture here is actually at the st Johnsbury academies field campus, which is just less than a mile up the road from us, which is really nice.
19:08:20 And this is a great spot because it's an orchard and their solar panels and so we don't really have to worry about shade all summer for the sheep. We just bring our netting fence and water tubs and rotate them through the orchard.
19:08:39 And this will be a really interesting experiment in soil health and building pasture.
19:08:49 Just because it was mode, as long, essentially, just until a couple years ago and so it'll be interesting to see what the sheep can do for this pasture as well.
19:09:08 This is bringing the sheep back to this field campus, after summer shearing
19:09:25 happy to be back.
19:09:35 And this is a beautiful spot. We go.
19:09:36 We do pretty intensive rotational grazing there.
19:09:40 So we're there every day to every other day, movingly sheep, and we just spend some extra time soaking in the view.
19:09:54 So this is what it looks like to move them.
19:09:58 We have, this is the passion that they had. Then in, surrounded in this netting fence. And then we set up either just a portion of the next area, they're going to be in, depending on how much fence, we have, or the entire area, and then they get used
19:10:20 to the move and they know what to do and they know what to expect.
19:10:27 And they get very excited to move.
19:10:48 So, it's a lot of work every day, every other day it's a couple of hours, I'm taking down friends putting up fence filling water tanks, but it's worth it for the health of the pasture.
19:11:05 And for the health, health of the sheep to moving them like this really reduces parasite load and potential for parasite load.
19:11:17 And then we had last summer's drought, which was quite a challenge.
19:11:26 Trying to get the sheep enough feed, not overgrazing.
19:11:32 And so this is just a picture of some crispy brown pasture, they were coming off of and just trying to keep them moving fast enough to not over agrees It was quite a balancing act, but we did it.
19:11:50 And we hope that we left the pasture in great condition to start this next season.
19:11:56 So this is a picture of like ry of why we do this, we wanted.
19:12:07 Good food for our families, and that sort of turned into our mission statement, which is growing food that's good for us. Good for the landing good for the community.
19:12:20 And so this is our summer kitchen, we call it which is just a grill and the table under the apple tree.
19:12:28 Looks like we had the pork chops and green beans and cucumbers from the garden and some kimchi.
19:12:36 And so this is what this is what inspires us to keep going, is to be able to provide our family, with this food, and, and also to provide our community with it too.
19:12:52 And then another reason we do what we do is to live as close as we can to a waste free existence. And so for us that means doing on farm slaughter and butchering butchering all of the meat that we are going to consume.
19:13:20 And this can seem a little daunting at first, and Mitchell's really the lead on the slaughtering and butchering aspect.
19:13:32 But we found that to butcher, a lamb here at the farm and in our kitchen for our own families consumption. All it takes is a boning knife, a bone saw, and a cleaver in some way to package it up.
19:13:51 So this is a, a time lapse video of Mitchell butchering an entire lamb carcass. And I think in real time it took him just 35 to 40 minutes. So it's really, It is daunting but it is so doable.
19:14:16 And so when we, when we slaughter and the butcher at home, it allows us to use as much of the animal, as we possibly can.
19:14:27 We really value each of our animals lives and we try to honor that by not letting anything, go to waste and so this picture is a picture of all of the products that we harvest and produce from one animal.
19:14:49 So, these are all of the cuts of meat that go in the freezer.
19:14:55 We take out these four leg bones they make amazing dog bones we just do hydrate them in the sun, and this is the trachea which actually also makes an excellent dog to.
19:15:12 A lot of times we have so many extra of these Legos we sell them in the farm stand this dog bones and
19:15:20 then with the bones that we don't use this dog bones we make a bone broth with. And then this is the tanned hide this one we didn't tan at home but I've now taken over all of our sheepskin tanning so I'm doing all of that here on the farm.
19:15:42 We make European mounts, with the skulls, or we all use the brains for tanning sheep skins. And usually the brain when we harvest a brain. It's hard to get it out without ruining the stolen so we usually take the brains out of schools that don't have
19:16:04 horns.
19:16:08 Um, and then what else is here.
19:16:10 So we save the tallow, and use that to make lotions and soaps and shampoo bars.
19:16:20 And then these sausages here are actually pork sausage but they're in the picture because we've started also harvesting in cleaning the lamb intestines and making our own sausage casings.
19:16:39 So, at the end of the slaughter and the butcher process really all that's left that goes in the compost pile is the room in, and some of the intestine, and then.
19:16:56 So I'm like fascia.
19:17:00 So that's another one of our wise, is to try to honor each one of our animals.
19:17:08 By using as much of each one as we possibly can.
19:17:13 So that's all that I have, I will pass it on to Bill kosher
19:17:36 bill Do you want to unmute yourself when you're ready.
19:17:40 Thank you, Diana that was wonderful.
19:17:42 Yeah, so I think things are about to happen here.
19:17:54 Things looking right.
19:17:57 Good, thank you should be seeing a field, this is my, my farm here in Surrey New Hampshire I reluctant to call myself in the North Country because I'm in the southwestern corner of the state
19:18:13 as other folks have, or as, as was mentioned early on, I've been farming for 30 years had sheep for 30 years I've actually been farming a little bit longer than that I, I made the, the entry into farming world with with vegetables and rented some land
19:18:35 from a vegetable grower and rather from my sheet producer and I, and I really liked working with the sheep a lot better than I liked working with the vegetables so I've, I've stuck with sheep.
19:18:53 Since then, and I've been, I've also raised, pork, beef, poultry,
19:19:01 both meat birds and egg laying hands, and I've also raised a number of turkeys. Over the years, but the sort of constant thing has always been sheep in my, my farming operation.
19:19:19 One of the things that I found really cool about sheep and that helped me kind of start on my soil health journey, was that using sheep I could take land that had been sort of abused or neglected or was in need of of some sort of improvement.
19:19:44 And by carefully, managing my sheep, I could really turn land around pretty quickly.
19:19:55 This particular field was full of golden rod and thistles.
19:20:00 When I took it over.
19:20:03 And I grazed it for about eight or 10 years that I had to move away.
19:20:11 I went down to Western Massachusetts and ran a big vegetable vegetable vegetation management service using sheep I had.
19:20:23 At one point, I think we maxed out at about 850 us and we're raising about 1400 lambs a year.
19:20:32 And then came back, and this field had been
19:20:38 used by local a farmer for 10 years without putting anything back so I got to start all over again.
19:20:48 And so we're working on restoring this field, this particular field for the second time.
19:20:56 And one of the things that I've been really sort of interested to note is that animals are the only way that nature has to move nutrients up a hill.
19:21:12 So, the sheep can graze at the low side of a hill and deposit manure up at the up at the high end.
19:21:22 And once you understand that you can manipulate where nutrients are deposited by how you structure your grazing system by where you feed animals in the winter or if you're using.
19:21:38 Non ruminants like chickens and, and swine.
19:21:43 You can deposit nutrients by having their, you know their feeders and in different locations where nutrients are needed because they're going to congregate around those around those feeders and that's where most of their most other nutrients are going
19:21:59 to be deposited.
19:22:05 I go see my sheep every day off and I go twice.
19:22:12 I, I'm using fairly high density grazing.
19:22:18 This. This is a group of feeder lambs that I bought a couple of years I think about three years old, maybe for now.
19:22:28 But this gives you an idea of the size of paddock that they're in these animals were moving, every day.
19:22:39 And sometimes when I'm in refer feed, I'll move them twice a day.
19:22:44 So that I'm not trying to force them to eat stuff that they wouldn't you know they won't gain on. So my, my big goal here is to get these animals, eating the right kind of feed so that they're going to be gaining weight and growing fast or as fast as
19:23:03 they can on on grass alone I don't feed any grain to my lambs.
19:23:11 So in this, in this picture you can see on the, on the right hand side of the, of the picture. There's the, the paddock where they were yesterday, or the move before.
19:23:25 And they hit that a little bit harder than I normally like I'd normally like to leave a little bit more residue than right there in the middle there there with with my old trusty livestock Guardian dog Luna.
19:23:41 And I think they've probably only been in that paddock for, I don't know maybe half an hour at the point this picture was taken.
19:23:48 And on the left hand side of the picture is the paddock that they'll go into the next move, whether that's.
19:23:58 Later that day, or the first thing in the morning, the next day.
19:24:04 I'm using in this photo I think I've got eight or nine pieces of electronics setup.
19:24:14 One of the things that I've done.
19:24:18 And I've learned a couple of things in 30 years the hard way.
19:24:23 One of them is that my life is a lot better and I think my sheeps life is a lot better if I have the next move all set up and ready to go when I arrive, so that they don't spend a bunch of time, yelling at me while I'm setting up fence.
19:24:44 So I like to have that next paddock all ready to go when I get there I just turn off the Energizer and open the open the corner of the fence and they and they pop right through.
19:25:02 And, you know, I've been doing this with different size groups of sheep.
19:25:09 This is, I think in this photo I've got
19:25:16 probably at us and they're lambs, so close to 200 animals.
19:25:23 And you can see, you know, the the size of the area that they're in is kind of highlighted by by the you know the different fence lines that you can see.
19:25:36 This was taken in July I apologize if it looks as fuzzy on my on your screens as it does on mine but
19:25:46 it's an old picture. But, these, these sheep were on grass that was pretty mature.
19:25:56 And you can see in the foreground.
19:26:00 There's been you know where they were they have already grazed. They've done a pretty good job trampling down the, the residue.
19:26:10 And so this particular field with this system I had enough animal pressure that I didn't feel any need to go in there after them and clip it to clean it up or anything.
19:26:20 I just let them eat what they what they wanted and trample the rest and then move them on and this was the sheep were moving twice a day on on this kind of feed, that's sort of what I was mentioning about the sort of refer feed I wanted to move them more
19:26:38 often.
19:26:41 I am, I'm always looking at kind of trying to
19:26:49 Matt match the amount of feed that's available inside and Electra net paddock to the number of sheep that are there for the amount of time that I want to have them in there.
19:27:01 So, you know, as I get a larger group of sheep I'm making a larger paddock.
19:27:08 If I need them to stay there 24 hours rather than 12 It's a larger paddock, if I want to, you know, do something crazy like go away for a night.
19:27:18 I'll move them in the morning, give them enough feed for two days and I'll come back the you know the evening of the next day.
19:27:28 And and move, move them for the, for the next time.
19:27:32 So I think, you know, two days is about the longest that I stay on any piece of grass at this point. And as important as, as it is to say how long I stay on a piece of grass what's even more important is how long I stay off it.
19:27:52 I think it was Miles Davis said it's not the notes you play it's the notes you don't play.
19:27:58 And that's how I feel about about grazing it's the time that you're off the off the field and letting it rest that matters the most.
19:28:08 And the reason for that is that when your grass starts to regrow.
19:28:18 It takes a while for it to recover from, you know, from being grazed.
19:28:25 And as it recovers from being grazed, it is doing two things is photosynthesizing from whatever leaves or left.
19:28:36 And it's drawing on on the nutrition that it has in the roots of the plan.
19:28:43 If you graze it too hard.
19:28:47 It doesn't have any solar panels left on the top to photosynthesize with, and it gets it starts to pull on the roots too much and you start to have roots dying away.
19:29:01 This. This slide shows what 30% root die back looks like and you lose an awful lot of the, of the depth of those roots, which is going to make, make your grass, more susceptible to drought, because the top of the soil dries out a lot sooner than the than
19:29:25 the deep parts of the soil. Also is going to interfere with your plants ability your grasses ability to be able to pull stuff up, minerals and nutrients up from down deep in the soil profile.
19:29:38 And here's where that really comes in.
19:29:44 On the again we're working right to left. Tonight I guess backwards, forwards. But if you take a grass plant and you click the leaves off every two days.
19:29:59 You can see on the, on the left there that's what the roots end up looking like, and then seven days.
19:30:05 and then 21 days.
19:30:07 And what I advocate for is at least 30 days of rest between, you know, between the time that something gets grazed and when it gets back have animals back on it and really I'm trying to aim more in into the 45 to 1160 day range for rest period.
19:30:28 It just makes those routes that much more resilient and makes it so that when you have a drought like we did last year and, and I know in Vermont, the entire state is still in a state of drought.
19:30:45 A lot of New Hampshire is to not all of New Hampshire, but a lot of it.
19:30:52 You know, we're, we're relying on those roots, more and more, and we need to make sure that we're not harvesting the roots when we're harvesting the tops to.
19:31:05 And the way to do that is to leave a lot of recovery and also to leave a lot of of the grass behind.
19:31:15 I love this chart, because it really shows the magic of the old adage, and rotational grazing about take half and leave half, and you can see where that comes from.
19:31:29 So, if you all the way down to taking 50% of the, of the leaf at the top of the plant.
19:31:37 You're having basically no effect on the, on the root growth.
19:31:41 As soon as you get to 60% you're losing half of your route.
19:31:47 And when you get to 80 and 90% you're losing all of the root growth.
19:31:55 And why that matters again is basically the resilience of, of the plants to recover from from that grazing event.
19:32:04 The other thing that's, I think is really important when you're trying to think about grazing with with ruminants or with anything but ruminants in particular, is that after about three days the grass is going to start trying to regrow after its bitten
19:32:25 off, and that's going to make.
19:32:31 It's going to start to have really tender new shoots. So if you're leaving your animals behind on the same piece of grass for more than three days or if you're not putting up a back fence and you're letting them just kind of wander around to go back to
19:32:45 a water tank or something like that.
19:32:49 You're essentially giving them a really fresh.
19:32:55 To them delicious bite, and to the grass it's sort of the killing blow, because it's just starting to try to put up new, new leaves, it's getting there getting bitten off.
19:33:09 So if you can manage to move your animals at least twice a week.
19:33:13 You'll probably just by doing that one thing about double the amount of forage that you can produce on an acre of ground.
19:33:23 Over the course of the season.
19:33:27 And you'll also be sequestering a lot more carbon in the roots because every time that, you know, grass plant, eventually goes through his life cycle and dies off at least all that carbon from the, from the root system in the ground and makes the ground
19:33:47 more porous all of the things that, you know, Diana was talking about with that parking lot that her sheep returning back into a pasture.
19:33:59 It's because those grassroots have started to be able to open up the soil structure so that water can get in there so that microbes can get some air. So that the ground isn't as compacted so water can flow in, it's, it's a really amazing system that will
19:34:16 heal itself if you treat it just right.
19:34:20 And that to me is like the coolest thing. I love just being a part of that process and helping to guide it from, you know kind of the wrong kind of agriculture I don't like to use that word very much but the kind of agriculture that will that will deplete
19:34:42 resources or pollute ground pollute nearby water to the kind of agriculture that will improve soil health and will keep nearby water clean.
19:34:57 So that's that's all I have for now.
19:35:00 So I guess back to Melissa.
19:35:03 Thank you Bill and thank you all of our speakers. There's so much rich information there already, but we'll start with one question for everybody.
19:35:13 If there was one thing you think someone should consider before adding farm animals or a new type of farm animal to their land, what would it be and if someone's very eager to jump right out and do that maybe
19:35:30 I'm trying I'm trying to gauge expressions their day yeah yeah I can use to that. So, um, I would say that, you know, just like the basics are really important so make sure you know who your best going to be.
19:36:03 So when we first had sheep. We contacted that we want to use. And they came out for a farm visit just to, so they knew where we were knew where to find us.
19:36:06 And then, you know, new the animals that we had before any problems arose.
19:36:11 So that's important.
19:36:13 If you're just starting with, poultry, then you probably won't have that.
19:36:21 But where are you going to get your information when health issues do arise. And maybe that's a Facebook group or a mentor, which is another really important thing to have.
19:36:37 Starting out with animals or a new animal.
19:36:41 Who is that person that you can call night or day to answer questions that you have.
19:36:50 And then, if you plan to grow, raise this animal for food. Do you like to eat the animal.
19:37:00 So people have come to us, to tell us how amazing our lamb is and how they've never eaten lamb, like ours before. And really it comes down to breed, the Icelandic breed, greed, just has very delicate and mild tasting lamb.
19:37:28 So make sure that you know that you like to eat what you're raising. And then, if you're not planning on eating your animals that you're adding to your farmer homestead.
19:37:39 What's your plan for if that animal dies. So, maybe you're looking into a larger breed of animal, but not necessarily planning on eating it.
19:37:55 What happens if, you know, for some reason that it dies, whether it's get sick or old age.
19:38:03 What's your plan.
19:38:06 And then
19:38:10 that's it, those are those are my big one.
19:38:14 Thank you, Rebecca and Jeffrey Do you have anything you'd like to add.
19:38:20 Sure, yeah there's a lot more than just one, so I think we'll both pick something.
19:38:26 I just think it's really important to understand the commitment that's involved in raising critters.
19:38:32 It's huge, you know like summer more demanding than others but you know if you're a person who likes to take vacations a lot, and travel, or you work, 7080, hours a week off your homestead, or you're a single mother with three kids like just understand
19:38:50 that those animals need your care, every single day, all day long, and sometimes you'll think about them when you're going to bed like oh is the roof going to collapse like it's it's a big commitment.
19:39:03 You know, sometimes I dream of not having animals sometimes so we could maybe take a road trip cross country in the summer, you know like, or whatever but yeah I think that's really important because I think we underestimate that, like when we got an
19:39:19 ox.
19:39:21 We really didn't have the experience and the skill set and and didn't realize how much of a commitment was to have a bovine.
19:39:30 When we never had bovines before.
19:39:34 I think just basics about thinking about. Do you have water access Do you have water access in the wintertime, and things about understanding fencing and, depending on the kind of animal, you know, are you going to let it free range or, you know, how
19:39:55 are you going to keep it protected kind of think of think through the basics of, of how to fully care for an animal protection huge like making sure they're safe, you know like one year we lost some docs, to a fox, because we didn't have the fence electrified
19:40:12 yet.
19:40:13 And that was on us. And that really sucks that we lost the sweet little critters. You know, it's great for the fox but such for them and us and, and it was a big lesson learned.
19:40:25 We learned a lot from that.
19:40:31 Thank you, Bill. do you have anything you want to add.
19:40:35 Sure.
19:40:37 I guess my first question would be to ask yourself why you want to get that animal or that those animals that kind of animal. What function are they going to serve on your on your farm and in your operation.
19:40:55 Is it because you like the way they look. Is it because somebody told you that you can get rich quick.
19:41:06 You know just really question yourself about it before you dive in.
19:41:14 Because there's a lot of, a lot of times that I see people that get, you know, a certain kind of animal, and they get really stuck on that breed or that species or whatever and it may not be suitable for the lamb that they're on.
19:41:33 You know, I think probably the most common example of that would be the domestic horse.
19:41:42 Right, people have a half acre in the backyard, and they've got, they've got a kid that wants a pony and then the pony needs a friend and then somebody's friend has a horse too, and before you know what you have in your backyard is is dirt and mud and
19:42:00 horse poop, and ever growing pile of horse manure that you have nothing to do with and, and no place to really safely dispose of it.
19:42:10 So, you know, think, think those things through think about how you're going to manage not only the, the front end of the animal but the stuff that comes out the back.
19:42:23 Make sure that there's a place for that to go without causing environmental harm, without causing strife in your neighborhood.
19:42:32 Make sure that you can contain the animal at, you know,
19:42:38 all of these things seem to like they should go without saying but I often in my job get called into situations where, you know, somebody is already in trouble and the reason that they're in trouble is because they haven't asked those questions first.
19:43:00 As the grumpy old man for you.
19:43:05 Hey Thank you Bill I love that perspective. And then for any of you look specifically we know Diana and Jeffrey and Rebecca are having these diversified farm experiences and I think Billy that might apply to you and your private farm as well as some degree.
19:43:21 But what are the benefits of being so diversified, and what are the drawbacks, if any,
19:43:31 maybe we'll start with Jeffrey and Rebecca if you're up for it because we, you certainly through pictures alone You are the most diversified presenter here for the night.
19:43:43 All right, well diversity is just key and about anything you do really, you know, that's why we were not just vegetable growers, because you know like last year, and you have a drought.
19:43:56 And if you're dependent on just growing vegetables and it's your limited.
19:44:01 And when you have the diversity.
19:44:04 You know, especially in diversity and grazing. I think that you're, you're creating a much richer soil biology, with the different microbes and the different interactions between those digest different digestive systems, how those critters interact with
19:44:22 the land, what their function is with the land, and especially if you're practicing biomimicry you know like trying to mimic natural systems and trying to mimic you know like we use netting fencing to keep the chickens in place, but they're out and about,
19:44:38 within a good size space. You know, so they can behave like chickens and act like chickens and. And that's why we choose to, you know, rotate pigs.
19:44:50 I think their, their, their well being is just as important, you know like if they're happy critters then, I don't know, maybe they have happier microbes.
19:45:02 and that creates a better synergy.
19:45:06 But then you're also not just dependent on one thing, like you know we we raised the docs for, you know, they're dealing with slug prevention and eating other insects and whatnot.
19:45:17 As we rotate on but we also get eggs.
19:45:20 And then we also get bedding.
19:45:24 And some years like in a dry year they don't like it as much and then we gotta, you know haul water so maybe they're not is vital.
19:45:32 Like a vibrant as so the chickens they like a dry and and warmer, you know, so they thrive in those conditions so I think having that diversity is that, like, you know, the word I'm looking for like you have more of a balance and checks in place so if
19:45:53 one systems not doing as well like last year we didn't have the greatest Chautauqua year.
19:45:59 But you know other things did well.
19:46:03 And, and I think that's important and that's why we strive to be diverse, the drawbacks I would say is, you have. Sometimes it feels like we have too many different enterprises, and especially with our animals being such small amounts and having all these
19:46:19 different fencing systems, it feels.
19:46:23 You know, sometimes like overkill, but so you can, I think, get too diverse and maybe split the benefit to. Yeah, the complexity can can outweigh the benefits sometimes.
19:46:40 Thank you so much, Dan, do you have anything to add. Yeah. So for us, the diversity is sort of started with us just trying to fulfill our diet. So we wanted to grow on our farm, what we wanted to eat, so that looked like a big garden that you know started
19:47:07 to expand so we could sell more produce in the farm stand for the sheep and the pigs and the chickens both for me and for eggs and so that's sort of why we have diversified and then one of the drawbacks, is that it just takes so much more time, right,
19:47:24 we have all sheep, we just have we got to do chores, it's just feeding hand water right but when then you add a milk cow, and then you add two pigs, and then you add some laying hands, and then you add me birds and then you have your garden and.
19:47:43 And so you have all these great things you're diversified, and it takes so much time.
19:47:51 So I would say that, that's the one that big drawback for us.
19:47:59 And then bill did you do you have anything to add.
19:48:03 Well, I would just say that I think both of both. Both of you got all of you guys have really nailed the two sides of the diversity coin.
19:48:13 If you focus on doing one thing and doing it well.
19:48:18 Then, you know, your, your life is going to be simpler.
19:48:24 But there are going to be times when that one thing doesn't work out for a while.
19:48:32 And conversely, if you're if you're doing too many things on, not enough scale to really invest in the sort of infrastructure that would make your, your life easier.
19:48:51 You know when I, at one point, probably when I was the most complex of my farming operation I had sheep, cattle pigs, laying hens.
19:49:04 Let's see, turkeys and three batches of meat birds all on the ground at the same time.
19:49:13 And, like I couldn't do any one of those things. Well, I don't know if I mentioned vegetables, but you know, Vegetables Vegetables always tried to kill me I don't know what it is about them, they just like they're so relentless.
19:49:29 People tell me animals are so unforgiving and require attention all the time but I think vegetables or worse.
19:49:38 But, you know, I just ran myself ragged and, and then you know hauling all that stuff to farmers markets, three or four times a week and hauling what I didn't sell back and feeding it to the pigs and then doing my farming shores at the end of the day,
19:49:55 you know like, so it. It's rewarding in some ways I mean we certainly personally never ate better than those years but it was so much work.
19:50:14 Thank you. And they asked that we've got a few questions about your particular chicken tractors.
19:50:21 People want to know if you made them or if you bought them and what size they are and how many chickens you can fit into each tractor.
19:50:30 Um, yes so we did make them. Um, if you look closely you can see that they are made with so there's the bottom is a frame of to buy lumber, and then the hoop part, or just bent over cattle panels, which are four feet wide, so they can be, you know, they
19:50:53 could be four by four four by a four by 12 just however many caterpillars you want, and we're
19:51:05 all right there eight. Yeah, they're ey.
19:51:12 Right.
19:51:12 Ey, right, the tractors themselves are eight feet wide, and the panels are 16 feet across, um, but so you can just line up those cattle panels to meet the tractor however long you want it to be.
19:51:27 Um, yeah, there's, you can find YouTube videos and there's a bunch of stuff online. And what's really nice about them is, we did this last fall, the chickens were done they went into the winter coop.
19:51:40 And then you can just put clear plastic over the top and extend your growing season and use it like a high time.
19:51:48 And then how many chickens in each it depends we have different sizes. So, and there's lots of resources out there. You know that tells you how much space a chicken means but because we're moving them twice a day.
19:52:06 They wouldn't they don't need nearly as much space as they would, you know if they're in a stationary coop in the same spot all the time.
19:52:15 But yeah, and our biggest one. I think we probably had 25 or 30 in our longest tractor.
19:52:24 And they do get heavy.
19:52:26 We thought about putting wheels on them.
19:52:29 It definitely takes one strong individual to move.
19:52:36 Feel modifications are coming probably with meals.
19:52:41 Okay.
19:52:42 Thank you. And this is for anyone. Can you talk about what you've seen in terms of changes and bio diversity, such as an increase in the number of species in a pasture.
19:52:51 When you've used these rotational holistic grazing systems.
19:52:59 I can jump in on that a little bit.
19:53:08 Um, I don't always necessarily see a increase in the number of species but I'll see a change in what species are there. So, when I start out, it's often sort of the Golden rod ragweed pig weed complex was some
19:53:30 with some grasses underneath.
19:53:32 But usually no clover showing. And then, as the, as we get the, the taller weeds under control, partly by grazing management and partly by, usually by increasing the pH of the soil with limestone or wood ash.
19:53:55 Then we start to see the, the plants that need a little bit more light coming in, you know, the, the some of the broader leaf grasses. The clovers start to come back, even without the addition of seed and a lot of cases you'll, you'll start to see a flush
19:54:13 of clover.
19:54:16 In response to improve Ph. and more like getting down to the ground.
19:54:22 So, but I guess probably the biggest change in bio diversity that I saw was when I took over run out piece of crop ground that had corn salads grown on it since the Carter administration and change that into permanent pasture and last time I counted species
19:54:44 on it I got up to 62,
19:54:48 different, different species of plant.
19:54:51 So, you know, there, so there you go from from one to 60 to some of those 62 I would just assume.
19:55:03 To be honest, but, you know, it's better than better than it just being all silence corn.
19:55:13 Is that a good thing at the or Jeffrey Rebecca Do you have a very quick, any quick additional comments and build that was pretty, pretty wonderful day and it looks like you want to add something.
19:55:22 Yeah, I would just say that that is exactly what we observed on that parking lot, essentially, that we found on this no mountain brag we'd agreed, we'd all that, and then now it's, it's the broad leaf glass grasses and it's the clover, which is so exciting.
19:55:46 Right.
19:55:48 Thank you, and there were a few other questions that we didn't have time to ask tonight, but to keep the conversation going we're using the listener for remind healthy soils coalition, and you can elect to join the listserv when you fill out the post
19:56:00 event survey that will be sent out along with the recording of today's event via event right so make sure you fill out that survey to enter this week's raffle as well.
19:56:09 And please also donate if you can.
19:56:12 Two weeks from tonight, we've got event five working with the woods. That's on April 7 from 630 to 8pm, and that features Sam Perrin of Northwood stewardship center.
19:56:30 Jim phone grafting county forester of for UNH extension and Michael and Sequoia of sacred circle homestead and permaculture Nursery in Vermont. And I wanted to thank everybody for gathering here today and especially our speakers.
19:56:40 And for those of you who did ask some questions will actually be sending those via email to the speakers and getting those answers and posting them on the listener for you.
19:56:49 So we're very grateful to see you all and I hope you're enjoying the the early spring. Thank you.